


The Duo's Deceit

by Prince_Darkcloud



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Alternate Universe - X-Ray & Vav, Gen, Superheroes, Supervillains, x-ray and vav
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-18
Updated: 2015-04-04
Packaged: 2017-12-29 18:24:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1008582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prince_Darkcloud/pseuds/Prince_Darkcloud
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After tiring of the thankless job of saving the city of Austin time and time again, the favorite super duo X-Ray & Vav dip into the roles of Austin’s new greatest baddies. But when a new crop of "superheroes" crop up, nothing is as it seems anymore. Our favorite super duo are tangled up in the line of morality as they try and figure out exactly which side they're on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Seed is Sown

Capes billowing dramatically in the strong wind of an oncoming storm, self-proclaimed heroes X-Ray and Vav stood atop one of the tall buildings that jutted up into Austin’s skyline. X-Ray was scanning the building just ahead. Trying to find the best way inside the well protected building. Vav fiddled with his gloves, pacing about impatiently as he waited for his partner to finish.

"Come on, X-Ray, what’s taking you?" He went and stood just behind his friend, squinting as if he could see what Ray saw.

Ray was silent for a moment before bringing his fingers down from his temple and deactivating his power. “It’s a big building; it takes a while.” He adjusted his glasses before turning to his partner. “Ready?”

Gavin grinned, finally ready to go. He held his arms back for Ray to hop on his back, which his partner did with practiced ease. “There has got to be a better way to do this,” Ray griped. Gavin giggled a bit before he took off, swooping around and doing unnecessary aerial stunts just to bother his team mate. He finally made his way towards the roof of the other building, Ray clinging tightly and fearing for his life, as usual. He so loathed flying.

They landed without incident and Ray did a quick scan as he walked across the roof, still a bit wobbly from the ride over. “They went this way.” He gestured at the roof, even though he knew Gavin couldn’t see what he saw. “If we head through that vent,” he gestured again, “We could intercept them before they reach their objective.”

"Alright, follow me, X-Ray!" Gavin went to the vent and tried to pry the cover off, only for Ray to blast it off with his laser sight. 

Gavin lowered them down the long, vertical descent, and slowly floated behind Ray as Ray army crawled through the vents. They weaved their way through at what felt like a snail’s pace to Gavin, until Ray stopped at a fork in the vents.

"You’ve got your earpiece in, right?"

Gavin double checked his ear, making sure it was still there before giving a curt nod. 

"I’ll guide you through the vents. We can do a kind of pincer attack." Ray brought his hands up like crab claws, trying to help explain what he meant. 

Gavin frowned, “You’re always making the plans, I want to be in charge for once!”

"What are you—" Ray had to lower his voice when he remembered just how well sound travelled through the echoey vents. "What the hell are you talking about? You’ve been in charge plenty of times."

Gavin made a noise of annoyance, “Alright, fine. It’s not the time to be arguing anyways. I take left?”

"Right."

"I thought you were taking right."

"No, I meant that you were right about going left."

"What?"

"Are we really fucking doing this? Just go left!"

Gavin made one of his trademark gurgled noises of mild frustration before flying down the left vent. Ray gave a little huff of laughter before he began to make his way down the right one as quickly and quietly as he could. They couldn’t afford to waste any more time than they already had. 

After about 5 minutes of speed crawling, Ray finally got into position. He put his fingers to his temple, looking through the bottom of the vent and through the ceiling beneath him into the room where the armed robbers had 9 people held hostage at gunpoint as they, presumably, spoke with the negotiator outside. Ray could pinpoint 5 middle aged adults, 2 seniors, and a couple that looked about his and Gavin’s age. He scanned over the opposite wall where Gavin was waiting for his signal. He switched modes and contacted his partner.

_'Alright, if you think you can reach them give me a thumbs up.'_

Ray switched modes again and saw Gavin giving a double thumbs up, accompanied by a cheeky little wiggle-dance.

_'Count to 10 and then boggle them.'_

Ray held onto the vent cover and slowly, quietly as he could, began to melt the fastenings of the vent cover. Right as he was finishing with the last one, he noticed the first signs of Gavin’s confusion ability. One of the thugs started stumbling about, gun waving about. The others looked on with furrowed brows, not understanding what was going on until suddenly their minds were in a muddle as well.

The masked vigilantes seized their moment. Ray popped out the vent cover, quickly shooting off Gavin’s vent cover before shooting the guns from the robbers’ hands, missing on occasion. Gavin flew out of the opposing vent and got to work carrying the injured hostages to safety while the others ran beside him. His area ability only lasted a little over a minute, so they had to move fast. X-Ray sent out a signal to the police radios outside, letting them know that the hostages were clear and they could now intervene.

Gavin’s mind boggle wore off, and Ray quickly realized that he was in a right pickle. Gavin was still escorting hostages to the exit while Ray was left, a sitting duck, in the ceiling with 4 very angry men beneath him. He quietly started scooting back out of sight, but one of them had noticed him. 

"Shoot the fucker!" Ray heard one of them shout. There was lots of angered screaming about the ruined weapons, but luckily for them they’d brought a couple spares. They began shooting the ceiling where they thought ray was. A couple bullets went zinging past, one of them grazing his arm and another his hip. Ray had never been more afraid for his life. 

Suddenly, hands were around his ankles, dragging him speedily backwards. “Don’t worry, X-Ray, I’ve got you!”

Ray heaved a huge sigh of relief as Gavin dragged him back out of the vents. Granted, getting scraped by the joints in the metal vents was uncomfortable, and going around corners was anything but fun, but the two of them made it out relatively unscathed. Gavin hoisted Ray onto his back and lowered them both down by the police cars. 

Three of the robbers had been successfully apprehended, but not without a fight. The men cursed the heroes as they were cuffed and taken away. An ambulance arrived for the injured hostages, who were taken away on stretchers.

The lieutenant approached them with an expression of clear disapproval. “That was quite a mess you guys made. Nearly lost 2 civilians and an officer.  You had the chance to take them out and you failed to take advantage of that. If you had, I wouldn’t’ have an officer lying in the back of an ambulance right now. Oh, and did I mention that one of the crooks even managed to escape?”

Gavin and Ray exchanged a look of confusion before turning back to look at her. “But…we saved the hostages.”

"We had everything under control. I know you superheroes only want to help, but if you lot just jump in without coordinating with the professionals it’s only going to make things worse. So either work with us, or stay out of our way."

Ray was clearly annoyed with this, but he kept his mouth shut, looking down at the hand that was covering the wound on his arm. Gavin, on the other hand, was not so silent. 

"That is bollocks! Complete and total nonsense! Without us, you’d be  _negotiating,”_  he did air quotes to emphasize his point, “till you were blue in the mouth! If X-Ray and I hadn’t been there, the hostages could’ve been dead, or worse! And you didn’t do a da—”

Ray covered his friend’s mouth before starting to drag him away. He didn’t apologize for him though, he just tossed a, “We’ll make sure to apprehend the guy that escaped,” over his shoulder as the two walked away.

"Don’t bother!" She called after them before turning back to her squad.

When they were finally a safe distance from the lieutenant, Ray let go of Gavin, who heaved a large sigh as soon as he was free. “Man, that  _suuucks!_  What’s the point of even bein a superhero when no one ever thanks you for what you did?”

Ray scratched the back of his neck, “Well, I get how it could turn into a disaster if people didn’t know what they were doing. I mean, to be fair, we’re kinda not exactly pros in the way of saving people.”

"Still!"

"Uhm, s’cuse me?"

Ray and Gavin’s attention was brought to the young man they’d saved. They pulled themselves erect, trying to look a bit bigger than the 130 pound twigs they were.

"I, uh, just wanted to say that that was really cool what you did." The guy scratched the back of his head, clearly not used to doing this sort of thing, "So, thanks. Like, really, thank you for saving me and my fiancée . If there’s anything I could do to repay you, I would, you know?"

Gavin and Ray were touched; their first ever earnest thank you. They didn’t know how to respond. “W-Well we…we do our best.” Ray looked over at Vav, nodding as if to affirm what he said.

"Just wish there were more people like you that appreciated us though," Gavin answered honestly. He almost went on to question why it mattered that they even try when it struck him. To this man, without them, he could possibly be dead, but then the self-doubt returned, questioning whether the hostages would’ve been fine even without the amateur duo.

"Well, I’ve got to get back to my fiancée. Thanks again, guys." The young man waved goodbye before hurrying back to the young woman wrapped in a shock blanket.

Ray put his hands on Gavin’s shoulders and hopped aboard. “Wanna order pizza?”

Gavin took off, somewhat dejectedly, “Sounds great.”

\- - -

The two arrived home at the apartment they roomed together in, stripped themselves of their hero costumes and changed into the soft comfort of pajamas. Gavin took the first shower while Ray ordered for the two of them. They were going to feast that night.

As he let the water cascade down his back, the gears in Gavin’s mind slowly began to turn, speeding up until they where whirring almost out of control. He picked his legs up off the admittedly rather dirty floor of the tub and floated cross-legged as he thought. He was interrupted when Ray knocked on the door. 

"Pizza’s on its way. Make sure to leave me some hot water."

Gavin shut off the shower, grabbing a towel before stepping out and drying off. He slipped back into his pjs and got comfy on the sofa with a drink while Ray hopped into the shower. It wasn’t long until the pizza arrived, and the two heroes commenced an evening of pizza and their favorite show. The only thing unusual about that evening was the silence that loomed between them. It wasn’t until Gavin was sufficiently drunk that he opened his mouth.

"Why even are we super heroes?"

Ray was preoccupied with trying to sever a long strand of cheese when his friend posed the question. “Cause that’s what people with powers should do? You’ve read the comics, seen the movies, played the games, you know what happens to the bad guy.”

"But how often do the good guys get thanked? The bad guy gets money, girls—"

"Except Team Rocket, though."

"—They do what they want. We haven’t gotten a single sausage for everything we’ve done."

"Got sausage on our pizza."

"God dammit,  _Ray!_ You know what I mean!” Gavin slid down on the couch, “Hero-ing doesn’t turn a profit.”

"It’d be nice if we got paid to do it, but the police aren’t exactly looking to hire us. Not unless we become their personal bitches." Ray put his food down and turned in his seat to look at Gavin with a slightly concerned expression etched into his face. "I really hope it’s just your drunk side that’s seriously thinking about becoming a villain."

"But just think of it, Ray!" Gavin sat up with all new excitement. "We’re the only heroes in town—"

"You don’t know that."

"—no one could stop us! If I get better at my mind boggle, no one would ever have to know we were there! And you could figure out the best routes to take! Be all sneakin around. We would be unstoppable!" Gavin threw his fists in the air, filled with excitement, before falling back onto the couch cushions with a drunken giggle.

"Go to bed, man, you’re completely hammered." Ray had managed to translate the drunken slurs and stutters into recognizable English, but he wasn’t sure he liked what he heard. He watched as Gavin slowly followed the wall back to his room while Ray decided to stay up a little later. Even though he didn’t like what typically came alongside villainy—the frightening innocent people, threatening them, or even being in a situation where he might have to kill someone—the appeal of a reward for his hard work was…alarmingly tempting.

"Unstoppable, huh?"


	2. Time to Run

Gavin awoke the next morning, slowly massaging his throbbing, hung over head. Ray was standing in front of the coffee machine, watching the pot slowly fill as he spooned cereal into his mouth. He was already dressed and ready for work, as usual. Gavin considered himself lucky that he had the day off.

“Mornin, Ray.” The Brit flipped on the television, surprised to see it was already tuned to the news. He always liked to see if they made it or not, which they often did. The weather report was being broadcast at the moment, but it was bound to be mentioned soon enough.

“It ain’t worth it.” Ray mumbled as he poured himself and Gavin a cup of coffee, mixing in cheap creamer and sugar. He set his empty cereal bowl in the sink before heading over to the couch, handing the cup to his friend.

“Why? What do you mean?” Gavin took an experimental sip, feeling the coffee burn the tip of his tongue.

Ray sat down, tucking his knees against his chest. “They basically just bash us the entire time. They’re talking about starting a city-wide search for us now, apparently.” Despite the level cadence in his voice, Ray was actually feeling considerably worried, and it manifested itself in a nervous twitching in his leg.

Gavin looked at the bouncing leg as he sipped at the hot drink. He patted Ray on the knee, trying to be comforting. “It’ll be alright, X-Ray. We’ll figure this out.” Though he too was suddenly doused with a feeling of uncertainty. He withdrew into himself, as he tended to do when the gears in his mind began to churn.

Another yawn escaped Ray as the pair half listened to the TV in front of them. There were only stories of recent devastation around the world, nothing pleasant. Ray slid his feet off the couch and stood up, finishing off his coffee. “Well, I gotta get to work. I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah, later.” Gavin yawned, waving to Ray as he stepped out the door. He watched the news through lidded eyes, not really listening. He was thinking about last night, his drunken desire to switch teams, join the realm of villainy.

The news announcer brought up the story of last night’s robbery again, the news stories already looping. Gavin stood up to make himself something to eat as he listened to the debate over whether or not the self-proclaimed heroes had done well or simply hindered the legal process. One particularly vocal individual was firm to the belief that vigilantism was a crime and should be treated as such.

Gavin picked up his toast and took a harsh bite, feeling his aggravation spiking. He flew over to the TV, glaring at the cluster of ungrateful, ignorant plebs. He took another angry bite of toast before switching it off. He floated up to the middle of the room, seething as he ate. He let out an angered cry before spinning about in the middle of the room until he started to make himself motion sick.

“God, _DAMMIT!_ ” A pulse of his confusion ability bounced around the apartment. Gavin could hear through the paper-thin walls as people in some of the surrounding units stumbling about and screaming in alarm, affected by the confusion. The walls rumbled and suddenly a crack split across the wall.

Startled by the sound of the wall splitting, the Brit spun around, confused more than anything. “How did...?” He shrunk back a bit, suddenly incredibly nervous, realizing that he’d made an error in letting his emotions take over. The public knew, to a degree, what X-Ray and Vav were capable of. It was part of the reason why the heroes made people uncomfortable. Gavin was suddenly afraid that his neighbors would recognize what’d just happened and report it. He was afraid he’d just exposed their true identities.

At first, Gavin tried to laugh it off, be excited that maybe there was a new edge to his power he could develop. But the fear of ‘what if’ was creeping up his spine, and it couldn’t be ignored. He zoomed to his room and grabbed a gym bag, filling it up with a couple sets of clothes, his wallet, and a few personal items. He flew over into Ray’s room and did the same. He’d watched enough crime shows to know to take enough to live but not so much that it’d be suspicious. Or...wait...was that how it went? He decided he didn’t have enough time to try and figure that out and just grabbed some of Ray’s clothes and anything he figured Ray held dear. Gavin glanced at the X-Ray and Vav costumes, a small frown spreading across his face.

Ultimately deciding to grab the super suits, Gavin rushed to the door, where he realized he was still in just his boxers and t-shirt and quickly went to get dressed. Once properly clothed, he peeked out the door before hurrying to the elevator. Pulse racing, palms sweaty, Gavin was the epitome of a nervous nelly. He pulled his hood up, looking down at the ground as he entered the thankfully empty elevator. It clanked and squeaked before making its way down at a snails pace. Figuring he had some time, Gavin pulled out his cell and called Ray.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“We need to get out of here. Where are you?”

“I’m on my route. Why, did—Shit, something happened.” Ray slipped a package behind the screen door of one of the houses on his run. He hiked up the awful, too big uniform shorts before hopping back in the truck.

“Uhh...” Gavin was hesitant to be completely honest, “I kind of, got a bit agitated...” he scratched the back of his head, biting his lip ever so slightly. The elevator doors opened and Gavin quickly walked out and towards the front door. “The wall just, bloody, split open. Don’t even know how I did that.”

“Gavin, what the fuck?” Ray tried not to panic as he drove to the next house. “If we get caught we’re in serious fucking trouble.”

“I know, I know! We need to get out of here.” Gavin could hear sirens in the distance and he almost shat himself. His heart rate sped out of control and he felt almost physically sick. He wanted to just take off and fly away, but it was daylight. People were bustling about on their way to work, and kids were on their way to school. No way could he go unnoticed. “Ray...I’ve gotta be honest, I’m scared.” Gavin bit his lip as he turned back to look at their old apartment building. He turned around only to see an ambulance zoom past, followed by a fire truck. He picked up his pace. Apparently he’d done more damage than he’d thought.

“Alright. Head to the, uhh, I’m near the frisbee park, I’ll come pick you up there.” Ray pulled his hat a bit further down over his eyes. He thought it’d be best to finish his deliveries, thinking that if he disappeared in the middle of his route it’d only pile on the suspicion.

When Ray finally pulled up by the park, Gavin was a mess. He was running his hand through his hair and pacing back and forth. When he saw Ray, he hurried towards him, looking around before hopping in the truck.

“The hell, Ray, what took you?” He scooted back, leaning against a wall.

“You seemed really freaked out, so I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible. Look, if I disappear in the middle of my route someone’s gonna think something’s up. I’m almost done with my route, after that...” Ray trailed off, having no idea what they should do next.

“We’ll figure it out, yeah? I mean... We’re superheroes! What are they gonna do? I can bleedin fly!” Gavin mussed his hair again, his brain clearly spinning a million miles an hour.

Ray drove in silence, having nothing to say. He hoped that they were just overreacting to the situation, but at the same time he couldn’t help but wonder if they’d landed themselves in a serious pickle. Guess they’d just have to wait and see.

As soon as Ray was done with his run, he clocked out early, explaining to his boss that there was a family emergency, and he’d be leaving early. He was waved off, and Ray quickly hurried back outside to Gavin, walking down the street with no particular destination in mind.

“So, where should we go?” Ray hefted his backpack up further on his shoulder, looking around as if suddenly every passerby was the enemy.

“I don’t know. Somewhere _no one_ will find us.”

\---

A man sat alone in an expansive room, eyes closed, fingers laced as he rested his head on his hands.

_’Where should we go?’_

_’I don’t know. Somewhere no one will find us.’_

“So, you’re on the move then. Now where are you...” Ryan’s hands hovered over the keyboard of his main console, using his telepathic ability to zero in on their coordinates. His focus was broken when a grunt burst into the room. Ryan turned his head to look at the woman, “This had better be good.”

The grunt saluted, straightening her posture. “Sir, they’re ready to begin the Beta testing. I was sent to inform you.”

Ryan sighed, mumbling under his breath, “They seem to think I don’t know what’s going on in my own lab.” He turned around, putting on a pleasant smile. “We’re putting that project on hold. I’ve got something more pressing to deal with.” He shooed her off, turning back to his computer. He’d could always deal with Beta later; he had some strays to collect.

\---

Ray and Gavin dined on Wendy’s junior cheeseburgers, standing outside a second-hand electronics store. Honestly, they were both slightly amazed these places still existed; seemed like something straight out of a 90s movie. The news was on a couple of the TVs, and it was little surprise that X-Ray and Vav were still a huge topic of discussion. Suddenly, it cut to their old apartment building, where walls had been cracked, the main gas line and water pipes busted open. They were interviewing tenants, all who claimed that it was the doings of the superheroes. Everyone in the apartment building were pointing fingers at each other; no one trusted anyone anymore. Examiners had pin-pointed that the damage seemed to stem from one of the units on the 6th floor, Ray and Gavin’s floor.

Gavin felt sick, crouching down into a squat as he groaned. “They’re going to figure it out. They’re going to know it was us. We’re so completely fucked in the anus.”

Ray ran a hand down his face, heart beating wildly in his chest. He just shook his head, unable to say anything in that moment. All he could think about was how royally fucked they were. “We should get out of here.” He put a hand on Gavin’s shoulder, trying to be as comforting as he could.

“Yeah,” the Brit stood up, scratching his jaw as he thought, “you’re right. I’ll get us out of here.” He lead Ray into a dark alley, dropping his bag to the ground and opening it, pulling out their super suits. “We’re wanted anyway, we might as well.” He tossed the X-Ray costume to Ray before starting to strip down.

Ray looked behind them, afraid someone might come down the piss-stained dead end of an alley and catch them. He shook his head, knowing the thought was ridiculous. He started stripping just as Gavin finished pulling on his costume. For a homemade supersuit he was actually pretty proud of it. Granted it was just a unitard with an iron-on symbol on the front and a cape form the seasonal costume stores, but all the same. Gavin slipped his mask on while Ray put on his, putting his glasses on over it. He knew he looked ridiculous, but he had to be able to see.

They looked at each other and let out a chuckle, “Man, we’re the fuckin shittiest superheroes ever.”

Gavin laughed, “You and your dumb mask under your glasses, you look like a right mug.”

“Yeah, well, you know.”

Gavin picked up their clothes and shoved them in his bag. “Alright, let’s go.” He handed the bag off to Ray who slipped it over his shoulder before climbing onto Gavin’s back.

“After you.”

Gavin wrapped his arms around Ray’s legs for extra security before he took off as fast as he could. He wanted to get away from the light of the city as fast as he could, praying he wouldn’t be spotted. Ray clung tight, shivering a bit as wind blew by. “You know, becoming a supervillain is looking better and better.”

The pair flew in silence as they left the city, soon zooming over rural landscape. Gavin hadn’t flown that far for a continuous period in quite some time, especially with someone riding on his back. He could feel that he was growing tired. Suddenly, he was jarred off course, lurching down towards the ground and effectively scaring the shit out of both Ray and himself.

“Gavin, what the hell?” Ray figured that Gavin was just fucking with him again, knowing how much he hated flying and heights.

“I don’t know! I just got yanked.”

“How is that even pos—”

Gavin lurched again, getting pulled back towards the ground. He was sinking slowly, as if he was drowning in quicksand. Gavin fought it with every ounce of his might, but after flying for a good hour, he didn’t have the strength to break away. The two of them were pulled down like fish on a line towards an armored vehicle. Gavin kicked his legs in protest, squawks of panic escaping his mouth.

“Ray!” He cried, “Shoot it! Shoot it, Ray!”

Ray lifted his glasses and shot the vehicle, only for his beam to be deflected. “Well that was useless.”

The only thing his laser did was increase the speed that they descended. The top opened and they were pulled inside, only getting released from the invisible hold when the top of the car shut again. They were dropped into the seats, a man and his guard sat opposite them.

“X-Ray and Vav, or do you prefer your given names?”

The heroes glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes. They felt they should be scared, but the man didn’t seem to be interested in harming them, at least for the moment. Gavin was the one that spoke up first, “What do you want from us?”

Ryan sat back, folding his hands behind his head. “I have a proposition for you two.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enter Ryan!


	3. There's No Way This is Real

“A proposition?” Gavin’s brow furrowed, not understanding what this stranger was on about.

“Think of me as your Charles Xavier. I’m here to help you. Also, I’ll be able to cover up your little faux pas back at your apartment. Now, I know what you’re thinking, literally. I’m simply here to make you two an offer: hone your abilities with me and disappear off the radar, get the 5-0 off your back. Maybe even a little _compensation_ for your time.”

The vehicle came to a halt—they hadn’t even noticed it’d been moving—and Ray and Gavin exchanged a look, silently wondering if they were really about to get paid for this. But then the dangers came to mind: who the fuck was this guy? How did he know about them? Why did he want them?

“I know you have a lot of questions, save them for when we get back. I’ll give you time to talk amongst yourselves.” Ryan lifted a hand and the ground beneath them rumbled.

Gavin grabbed the seat, looking around the windowless cabin until his eyes finally landed on Ray. Though they were both still a little scared to speak, their expressions clearly portrayed a feeling of ‘what the hell is going on here?’

The car felt like it was moving downwards now, like it was on some sort of elevator. Ryan chuckled gently as he listened to the internal screaming of the confused boys. Soon, the car opened again, this time the side sliding up and out of the way. Ryan motioned for the boys to step out first.

Gavin was the first to move, legs a little shaky. The walls were cement, like they were inside the hallway of some sort of underground parking lot. There were four other risers beside the one they’d been lowered on, all of them empty.

Ray stepped out after Gavin, adjusting his supersuit awkwardly as he shifted the duffel bag on his shoulder. “What the hell is going on...?” he mumbled, hesitantly following after Gavin.

Ryan stepped out after them, his guard following behind silently. “Welcome, gentlemen, to my...hmm...lair is a bit dramatic, but that’s essentially what its become. My Lab? Well, it’s that too, but not exclusively. School, maybe...? No...” He paused, as if contemplating for a moment before shaking his head and moving along. “Anyhow, follow this hallway and take the first right.”

The boys plodded down the long hallway, turning towards the first door they saw to their right. “This one?” Ray asked as he pointed to the heavy-duty, windowless door.

“Yup. Let me get that.” Ryan lifted a hand and twisted, as if turning on an imaginary shower. The heavy door crank turned with his movement before slowly opening into the room, presumably under Ryan’s ability as well. The room that was revealed looked to have originally been some sort of stark white testing chamber. The way it looked now implied that it had been beaten up pretty good over the last couple years. There were burn marks, deep gashes, slight depressions where massive amounts of force must have made impact. Up above, there was a large glass window, a woman in a lab coat made a brief appearance before disappearing again.

“Yeah, it’s a real fixer-upper, but I haven’t had time to get around to it. But here is where we’ll see what you can do. First of, while I prepare for your testing, let’s uh...get you out of those costumes.”

“What? But-But why?” Gavin asked defensively, covering his symbol with his hands. “These are the X-Ray and Vav suits! They’re iconic! We can’t just...throw them out!”

“I’m not asking you to throw them out, but I mean look at them.” Ryan gestured to their bodies, an off put expression on his face. “They’re not fire or water resistant, can’t save you from getting stabbed or shot. The most they do is draw the eye of every enemy within a five-block radius right to those bright red panties you’ve got on, Captain British. The brightly colored onsies your mothers made for you won’t cut it in the real world. I’m amazed you made it this far; this isn’t a comic book, you know.” Ryan took a step back so he was standing outside the doorway. “I’ll have my team bring you something much more appropriate. And for gods sakes loose the fucking masks, you look ridiculous.” And with that, he closed the door, leaving the young men to talk in relative privacy.

“What the bloody hell is going on!” Gavin exclaimed, running a gloved hand through his unkempt hair. “I mean, who the _hell_ is this guy? What sort of lunatic makes himself an underground lair, I mean... That shit can’t be real! There’s no such thing as underground labs running secret experiments!” Gavin paced around as he ranted, cape gently fluttering behind him.

Ray let his friend blow off the initial steam before giving his input. “Honestly, if this guy’s legit I give him mad props, like the guy must be some sort of genius or something.” Or he had a lot of geniuses working for him. But if there was one mostly iron-clad rule in comicverse it was that well-staffed, highly advanced labs were rarely on the side of good guys. “I mean, it’s either...I dunno, risk getting trapped in this guy’s sex dungeon or be on the run from the cops. Cause if...if they figure out that X-ray and Vav are the ones that fucked up the apartment and then figure out that our apartment is where the damage came from... It’s not fucking rocket science.”

“It’s paranoia is what it is.” And Gavin had been victim to it as well. Yet here they were, sitting in a weird room in some guy’s underground lair. The bank robbery the night before felt like it had been a week ago at least.

Suddenly, the door swung open and a boy, who was maybe a bit younger than they, walked in carrying two sets of folded up clothing, two pairs of boots perched on top. The boy wore a white t-shit with a large red cross on the back, white cargo shorts, and a pair of blue keds. “Hey,” he introduced as he set the stuff on the ground, accidentally toppling the boots, “I’m Caleb.” He extended a hand.

Ray took it first. “I’m X-Ra—”

Before Ray could finish introducing himself, Caleb gave him a look. “No need for ‘super names’ here. We’re all friends. Well, most of us.” There were a few characters that weren’t particularly peaceable, but they also weren’t wholly impossible to work with.

Caleb reached up and pressed a couple fingers to Ray’s forehead. Slowly, Ray’s bullet grazes and scrapes from their adventure in the ventilation system began to close up and his bruises started to fade. “You two aren’t alone, you know.” He smiled again before his face suddenly changed, as if he’d randomly zoned out. After a moment he turned back to the two. “Gotta go, boss is calling.” He waved before hurrying out.

“Well, that was weird.” Ray felt himself over, finding that every sore spot and stinging cut had disappeared. Even the finger that hadn’t healed right after an accident during a failed hero attempt was completely back to normal.

“Why didn’t he heal me up? I’ve got boo-boos too!” Gavin pouted, touching the gash he’d gotten on his shoulder.

“Nah, he just wanted to show off.” Ray went over to the clothes and picked up the suit. It was thicker and a bit bulkier than their usual attire. Ray pulled at the fabric, finding that it stretched easily enough.

“It’s so boring looking, though.” Gavin complained as he picked up his own. “Though to be fair, it’s top quality stuff.” Gavin started to peel off his costume, leaving the bottom half of the onsie on as he slipped on the padded under armor, Ray following suit.

“Oooh, this is nice.” Gavin felt at his chest and stomach, “breathes a hell of a lot better.” He pulled his arm over his chest in a stretch.

“Yeah, not gonna lie this is way better. Maybe we can get this stuff in X-Ray and Vav colors.” Ray picked up his pants, turning his back to Gavin to strip the rest of his suit off when Gavin stopped him.

“Wait, before we strip down to our pants, do you think there are people in that window that can see?”

“You know you can just fly up and check, right?”

“Oh yeah...” Gavin flew up to the window, taking a peek inside. The room was empty for the moment, but it was clear someone had been there not long ago.

“All clear.” Gavin reported before floating back down.

“Kay, good.” Ray finished stripping, kicking his old suit to the side before he pulled up the pants. They were a fairly tight fit, but not uncomfortable. Thankfully, there seemed to be extra padding around the groin.

“Well, how do I look?” Ray turned back to face Gavin, who was still adjusting himself in his pants.

“Like a right mug, but far better than our old crap. How do I look?”

“Like an idiot.” The two boys laughed a moment, both secretly thinking that their new look felt like something right out of a movie. This whole thing was looking up to seem pretty damn cool.

A few minutes later, Ryan returned. “Alright, now that you’re dressed, let’s see what you can do. Ray, you’re gonna be up first.”

Ray suddenly had flashbacks to high school gym class, leaving him a lot less excited about this. “Uhh, okay, what do I do?”

“I’m going to be situated in that control room. I’ll be giving commands and adjusting your environment as we test your abilities. Gavin, you’re coming with me.” Ryan sent a telepathic message for the window to open, which is did a few seconds later. “Alright, after you.”

Gavin looked back at Ray, giving him a confident nod before flying up through the window, Ryan floating up after him. Ryan stood at the control panel, hitting the button for the mic.

“Alright, Ray, back up towards this wall. On the opposite wall, targets are going to appear. I want you to try and shoot them. We’re going for accuracy, not speed just yet.” Ryan hit a few buttons and four targets appeared on the wall. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Ray focused on one of the targets, lifting his glasses up and firing his lasers at the fuzzy target. He lowered his glasses back down and noticed with dismay that he only got the outer ring of the first target. He kept firing, getting two shots in the middle ring and missing the last, smallest target all together.

Ryan made note of all of this, keeping track of his score. He turned to one of the scientists, “Let’s schedule an eye exam, make him some glasses that can withstand his abilities.” He flipped the mic back on, “Alright, Ray we’ll let you try that one more time.” The targets disappeared and four new ones popped up.

Ray took a deep breath, trying to reign in his focus. This time, he managed to hit all four targets, even managing to decimate the center of one of the targets. He looked up at the glass window and let a smile creep onto his face when he saw the encouraging thumbs up that Gavin was giving him.

“Next test is speed, targets will appear and you try and hit as many as you can.” Ryan announced over the mic before flipping it back off again.

“This is just like a video game tutorial.” Gavin was bouncing up and down where he stood. He was so excited for his turn next. He watched Ray as his friend tried to hit the targets, missing quite a few more than the last round. He only managed to hit four of the ten flashing targets.

“Yeah, I think we’ll put a hold on his testing until he can actually see what he’s doing. There’s no way we’re getting accurate readings with this. Shut it down.”

Ray was confused when the testing came to an abrupt halt. He looked around, wondering if maybe he’d done something wrong.

“We’re putting a hold on your testing for now, Ray.” The window opened back up, “Gavin your first test is bringing Ray up here. Much faster than walking all the way around.”

Gavin swooped down and went to pick Ray up by the underarms.

“Nope, fuck that, you’re gonna drop me. Put me down. _Put me down!_ Gavin, you asshole!” Ray had a death grip on Gavin’s arms as he was uncomfortably picked up and carried to the window. Ray couldn't have climbed inside fast enough.

“What you worrying for, you donut. I got you here fine.”

“You ever do that again and so help me I will kill you.”

“Hmm, that would actually be a good thing to test: how fast can you catch a falling victim. Let’s add that to the list. But first,” Ryan rubbed his hands together excitedly, “let’s see what that chaos power of yours can do.”

Gavin flew back down and the window closed. He looked back up at Ryan, “My power kind of needs people in order to confuse them.”

“We’ll get to that. Right now, I’m more interested in what you did back at the apartment. See if you can try and do that again.” A column rose in the middle of the room. “Try and see if you can crack it.”

Gavin gulped, unsure if he’d be able to replicate what had happened. “Well, I’d never done that before, but I can try.” Gavin focused on the pillar, holding his hands out. He tried to make himself angry like he’d been, trying to focus his anger and crack the stone, but nothing happened. He looked up at the window helplessly.

“We’ll work on that. Let’s see your other abilities.” The door opened and three people walked in. “Don’t worry, Caleb will be on standby.”

Gavin nodded and extended a hand, and soon the three stumbled and struggled to remain upright. Two of them fell to the ground squirming, no longer able to tell up from down. The third managed to stay upright, but vomited in his efforts. They were back to normal in about a minute.

“Hmm, while effective it doesn’t last too long.” Ryan mumbled as he took notes. He sent Caleb in to make sure everyone was okay alongside cleanup to clear up the vomit. He flipped the mic, “Good job, Gavin. Now we’ll test your flight. Bodies are going to drop from the ceiling. Don’t let them fall.”

“Wait, you mean like dummies, right? Not actual people?” Ray was suddenly very concerned for every employee under this guy.

“Well, yeah, of course. We won’t be using real people for either of you until I feel you’re ready.”

“Wait, wha—”

“Alright, Gavin, test begins in three...two...” Ryan hit a button and doors in the ceiling opened. A limp training dummy fell through a hole, and Gavin almost didn’t take off in time. He caught the dummy midway down, the force of the impact throwing him off and he swerved into a wall.

"Jesus, they're heavier than they look..." He mumbled as he flew down to the ground and dropped the dummy. He looked up, seeing that another body was already plummeting down.

“Christ!” Gavin flew up to try and catch the dummy, but didn’t grab hold firmly enough, and he lost his grip. It fell to the ground with a dull thud. Gavin didn’t have time to process his failure to catch the person before there were two bodies falling at the same time. He darted to catch one, but wasn't going to make it in time for the second one. He reached out a hand as if he could catch the body from afar when he felt a pulse travel down his forearm and out his palm.

The body slowed in midair, tumbling in slow motion towards the ground. Gavin was so flabbergasted by what was happening he almost forgot to catch the other body. He quickly flew over and grabbed the dummy around the stomach, lowering them both to safety.

There was silence in the control room. Ryan’s eyebrows were halfway to his hairline. He began to furiously type at his computer, taking careful note of what just happened.

Ray hijacked the mic for a second to talk to Gavin, “The fuck was that, man?”

“I dunno!” Gavin looked at his hands, “What’s goin on with me?”

“Well, I’ll tell you one thing, Gavin,” Ryan took the mic back, “Your powers aren’t what we thought they were.”

“Then what the hell is it?” Gavin stuck out his hands again, trying to replicate what he’d done, but to no avail.

Ryan paused a moment, trying to come up with an answer. The only thing he could think of was a very dangerous prospect. “I think...we need to run a few more tests.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. Hopefully I'll upload a lot sooner. Thank to everyone who read my story even though it hadn't been updated in forever you guys are fantastic ;0;


End file.
